Global Witness calls on all parties to outline plans on tackling dirty money

22nd November 2019, London ­–
Following
the launch of Labour’s Tax Transparency Programme for the 2019 General
Election, Global Witness is calling on all parties to adopt similar pledges to
crack down on the UK’s role as a safe haven for dirty money.

Ava Lee,
Senior Campaigner at Global Witness, said:

“For
far too long, the UK has rolled out the red carpet to the criminal and corrupt.
The policies announced by Labour could finally put an end to that - by making
it much harder for oligarchs, gangsters and corrupt politicians to stash and
launder dirty cash through companies, trusts and property.”

“Fighting
corruption shouldn’t be a partisan issue. We are looking to all parties to show
they are finally calling time on dirty money.”

Measures,
that Global Witness have campaigned on for, announced by Labour include:

Improving
the Persons of Significant Control (PSC) Register with information on the
owners of UK registered companies that is verified, and reducing the threshold
for disclosure of shareholders to include all shareholders, not just those with
over 25% of shares.

Introducing
a public register of all trusts that operate through the UK.

Working
with the UK’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to ensure they fulfil
commitments to company ownership transparency.

Increasing
transparency of land ownership.

Read more on
Global Witness’ call to all political parties at the UK 2019 General Election here.